Please Give Some Thought – Voter Information
Presentation – Current Events
Third Saturday Seminar 2017-2018
Return of the Elders, Unleash your Wisdom
Session 2
“Our Differences”
What is happening to us and why.
Don’t (be) Panic(ked)
Saturday, 21 October 2017 9:30AM to 12:00 NOON (3d Saturday))
Room B-102, Lone Star College – Montgomery
3200 College Park Drive – Conroe, TX – 77384 – 936.273.7000
This is the Second Session of the Third Saturday Seminar for the 2017-18 Academic Year.
For a while, since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, things started to sort themselves out in our world. By 2000 a Democratic President and a mostly Republican Congress were able to move towards the center and balance the annual budget.
But now, things are different…
America has been great for most of us, but that has survived because we really did a build a workable although imperfect, society where laws mostly are observed by all of us people in authority were mildy corrupt and institutions were mostly trusted.
We had freedom to live our lives, protection of law, privacy, live as you like as long as you don’t hurt or bother others.
But, recently we have had a massive explosion of technology that has enhanced the spread of information but endangers privacy and security. The downside of connectivity is it becomes invasive. It is in effect a door to the world that cannot be totally securely locked.
Robots, self-driving cars and artificial intelligence will change the talent and skill requirements for our human work force.
Corporations have become blatantly monopolistic and greedy. They use technology to capture your data when you do business with them, so, they claim, they can serve you more efficiently and then sell that data to other corporations and other interests.
We have seen the management of drug companies act predatorily towards the people they serve.
Facebook has recently admitted that they allowed Russian Trolls to to reach millions with fake and misleading news. They have promised to deliver their material to our Congressional investigators but they have made good.
Our most recent presidential election was an in-your-face breakdown of our political system and inability of our popular media to provide factual, contextual, and relevant information. And our viewing habits seemed to encourage this. The media sold lots of ads for the time they gave to Trump’s antics.
Democratically elected governments are now being perceived as being ineffective, and leaving certain segments of their constituencies underserved. Governing majorities are difficult to achieve.
The World has been flooded by refugees created by wars, broken economies and terrorists. These in turn are perceived as posing a threat to the native cultures. And, sometimes this may be true.
The mal-division of wealth and income now rivals that which brought on the Great Depression.
Corruption is rampant in many of the non-OECD Countries, and to some degree everywhere. In some places it is legally sanctioned by tradition, tax policies and permissive laws
And we are still seeing the consequences of personal biases and attitudes present in our society and in ourselves against people who are not quite like us. Different skin colors, ethnicities, religions, and respect for women. And, the enmities, selective deafness and blindness between so-called conservatives and liberals pose a threat to us all. With our country split 50-50 we have either deadlock or oppression of one faction by the other.
We need to expand opportunities for everyone with education, healthcare and respect. And clean up our planet.
We talk specifics on Saturday.
Please give some thought to what “we the people” need to do to help get our country and the world back on track.
IN THE MEANTIME:
Miraculously, chaos and insults amongst our leaders seem to be momentarily giving way to public demonstrations refusing to confirm insults and gossip about breakups to hearing assurances from the likes of Rex Tillerson, John Kelly, and Mitch McConnell, even H.R. McMaster and the President that everything is copasetic.
Obviously there have been a few Kumbaya moments between the key government department heads to tell the world that everything is jes’ fine. And in this instance I hope the world leaders are willing to play along. We don’t have any idea who was actually gets credit for “belling the cat” perhaps some body was sable to paint pictures of Trump’s future world (Let’s hope we can pretend to believe this as will the world leadership.)
I don’t for one minute believe that all signs tension are gone. But, just perhaps these important people have come to realize they have a job to do. The World depends on them, and us to do it. We need to be able to show the world that as a country we can project the power and the willingness to use it to again discourage those rulers and countries that want to take humanity back into the Dark Ages.
See Tillerson’s press conference here
Trump and McConnell strive for unity amid rising tensions, New York Times , Monday, October 16, 2017 9:09pm
As usual, our world is still in “interesting times” We will start the session with Current Events (Distractions)
Our “Current Events segment will be mostly an open discussion of the wild events that continue since the newly sworn President Trump took up residence in the White House. Here are some
President Donald J. Trump will have been in office for 274 days by Saturday. There are 381 days to the next election. The “Russia” investigation seems to continue to gain traction. Mueller goes deeper and deeper following trails.
Did you see the 60 Minutes segment about how three drug companies, their distributors, their lobbyists, members of Congress and former senior DEA officials colluded to pass a law that dismantled the DEA’s ability to detect and prevent illegal distribution of the opioids that are that are killing Americans and making millions. This morning the President Tweeted: “Rep. Tom Marino has informed me that he is withdrawing his name from consideration as drug czar. Tom is a fine man and a great Congressman!” Now what?
Also today, Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R- Tennessee, pulled the plug on bipartisan talks to fix Obamacare last week to focus on the latest GOP effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Tracking MOSUL/ISIS – “So far the US-coalition has managed to push ISIL out of most of Iraq and it is currently escalating its offensive in Syria. With ISIL defeated in the Iraqi city of Mosul and the battle for Raqqa raging on, ISIL is losing control over major urban centres. Analysts say that as the armed group loses more territory, it will revert to a guerilla-style insurgency in the countryside of Iraq.”
Reality – From last month – Victory in Mosul: “It was estimated that removing the explosives from Mosul and repairing the city over the next 5 years would require USD 50 billion (2017 USD),[81] while Mosul’s Old City alone would cost about USD 1 billion to repair.
Russia Investigation: Mueller’s next move, the Steele dossier, and an NSA hack — the latest in a wild week of Trump-Russia developments. Sonam Sheth and Natasha Bertrand, Oct. 9, 2017, 12:02 PM 21,08
This week saw a slew of critical revelations in the ongoing Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller; Facebook and its role in Russia’s election interference; the explosive but unverified Steele dossier; and an elite Russian cybersecurity firm that’s attracted scrutiny as Russia ramps up its aggression in the cyber space.
North Korea Suspected of Hacking U.S.-South Korean War Plans, Secrets stolen last year include plans detailing how to eliminate the Pyongyang leadership, By Kwanwoo Jun in Seoul and Nancy A. Youssef in Washington, Updated Oct. 10, 2017 8:22 p.m. ET
Suspected North Korean hackers stole sensitive military secrets, including a joint U.S.-South Korean plan detailing how to eliminate the Pyongyang leadership in the event of war, in a breach of Seoul’s defense data system last year, U.S. defense officials and a South Korean lawmaker said.
The hackers broke into South Korea’s defense database in September last year and snatched a trove of the classified military documents, Rhee Cheol-hee, a member of the ruling Democratic Party, said in an interview with local media published…
And whatever comes up… You can always get a quick Current Events briefing here
Bring your insights and your concerns to Third Saturday Seminar on Saturday and we will Share.
LSC-Montgomery
3200 College Park Drive, Conroe, TX 77384
ALL- Montgomery Links:
Academy for Lifelong Learning: LSC-Montgomery
Registration
Download a registration form and submit it to ALL:
· In person: LSC-Montgomery (3200 College Park Dr., Conroe, TX 77384), Continuing Education/ALL Office Building E (Room 205)
· Phone: 936.273.7446
Course Description: Third Saturday Seminars – Fall 2017- 3 Sessions
To refer to an ancient Chinese saying, “our world is in interesting times” and individual citizens are assaulted with a blinding array of propaganda from every conceivable source. The Third Saturday Seminar is about demystification of what is going on around us. Time will also be spent on current events.
Meets 9/16, 10/21, and 11/18 in B-102.
14972 Sa 9/16-11/18 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m. B 102 Gibby
Schedule for other ALL Courses
Downloadable Course book PDF
Montgomery Courses start on page 36.
You can attend ALL courses on all the other campuses by registering for global membership ($55).
ALL Website: http://www.lonestar.edu/all-montgomery.htm
Registration Form
“Some part of our being knows this (the universe) is where we came from. We long to return. And we can. Because the cosmos is also within us; We’re made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” Carl Sagan